Week 3 Homework: Podcasting, Voice, and Music, Oh My!

Don’t forget that you can always check our syllabus/class schedule here. And the podcast assignment is described more fully here.

For Monday’s class:

1. Post a “listening” response to the assigned NPR episode on vocal fry, including 1-2 questions to help guide class discussion. You may want to respond either to the podcast’s (originally radio broadcast) form, or its content, or both, e.g. what struck you about its editing, sound use, etc. to that elusive thing we call “voice” and its relationship to gender, age, “professionalism,” and so on.
2. (In your podcast group/pair) Draft a *rough* script for your original research podcast, including speaking segments for all group members and any desired, anticipated, or already recorded elements from sound effects to quotes from interviews. NPR offers this handy guide to “Starting Your Podcast” (ignore the competition part), including a section on scripting with examples.

For Wednesday’s class:

1. Post a reading response to the assigned Feld article, as usual including 1-2 questions to help guide class discussion. For this piece, it might help to share any particular point or points of confusion–was there a term or a section that confused you? What kind of approach is Feld taking to sound? Why does his disciplinary background matter?
2. (In your podcast group/pair) Bring a “rough cut” of your podcast to class that you can share during a peer review session. This might be shorter or longer than the desired 5-7 minutes, but it needs to be complete enough for another group to listen to it and offer feedback before you turn in your final, polished edits. ***Bring headphones/earbuds for better listening experiences.***

For Friday’s Writing Assignment (Weekly Blog Post #3)

This should be your own (not your group’s) personal reflection on producing the research podcast. This reflection should 1) explain your group’s process in making the podcast (What steps were important? What was challenging? Fun? Interesting? New?); 2) discuss the choices you made (to appeal to the audience, support your argument, meet your goals); and 3) evaluate your podcast (what makes it interesting, important, original, engaging? is there something you would do differently next time?).